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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “detector”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “detector”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 of the top 20. 3 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Device Detector shows at wp.org #2 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall places #2 on merit, 4.8★ from 334 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widget Detector for Elementor 1K+ · 4.9★ (39) wp.org #1 2 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #10 ↑1 8 too low 3 CHP Ads Block Detector 800+ · 4.0★ (25) wp.org #3 4 WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 FAZ Cookie Manager 3K+ · 5.0★ (30) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Dynamic XML Sitemaps Generator for Google 20K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #14 ↑4 7 too low 8 WebChange Detector: Visual Regression Testing & Visual Checks After Updates 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 ZDN Adblock Detector 100+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Order On Mobile for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #18 ↑2 8 too low 11 User Login History 10K+ · 4.6★ (29) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #17 5 too low 13 Sessions 900+ · 4.8★ (8) wp.org #13 14 Post Export Import with Media 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Device Detector 500+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #2 13 too high 16 CTRify AI SEO Content 100+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #23 ↓4 7 too low 17 Page Detector – Check the template file of the current page 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Fake User Detector 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 Vibes 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 Content Guard Pro – Database Malware Scanner & SEO Spam Detector 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 WebChange Detector for MainWP 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 Adqiro — Ad Blocker Detector — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓4 3 too high 24 IP Locator 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.